Open-front refrigerated display cabinet



E. o. HENDERSON 2,450,088

OPEN-FRONT REFRIGERATED DISPLAY CABI sept. 28,1948.

NET y 3 Sheets-Sheet. 1

Fine@ April s. 1947 ZZ endelhsaa v Gibran Sept. 28, 1948. E. o. HENDERsoN 2,450,088

I WER-FRONT BEFRIGERATED DISPLAY CABINET Filed April 8, 1947 3 Sheets--Sheet` 2 u U n \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`N\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ i ffende'a ySemn 28, 1948 E. O. HENDERSON l OPEN-"FRONT REFRIGERATED DISPLAY CABINET Filed-April 8, 1947 :s sheets-Sheet s v j! jezdewson INVENTOR.

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Patented Sept. 28, 1948 Elden 0. Henderson, Oklahoma City, Okla., as-

slgnor to E.' 0. Henderson & Sons, Oklahoma City, Okla., a partnership Application April 8, 1947, Serial No. 740,058

This invention relates to a refrigeratin'g apparatus embodying a cabinet which is constructed to provide a walk-in storage section and an open front or refrigerated display Vsection in communication with the storage section, to the end that a single motor driven refrigerating unit may be used in supplying the cooling medium for both the storage section and display section.

An important object of the inventionis to construct the cabinet of the device in such a way that a cooled area will be set up Within the display section, to prevent the warm air of the room in which the cabinet is positioned, being drawn into the display section and passed into the storage section.

With4 the foregoing which will appear as and other objects in view the description proceeds,

' the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinationsl of parts, hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims,it being understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

Referring to the drawings Figure I1 is a perspective view of a refrigerating cabinet, constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 isa vertical sectional view through the cabinet of the apparatus.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view through a modified form of the invention.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the'device comprises an insulated cabinet indicated generally by the reference character 5, the cabinet having a door 6 in one end thereof to permit an attendant to walk into the cabinet or storage space of the cabinet.

The reference character 'I indicates the lower section of the front wall of the cabinet, which extends to a point slightly half of the distance between the floor and top of the cabinet, as clearly shown by Figure 1 of the drawings.

Extending upwardly from the upper edge of f the front wall l, is a transparent extension section 8 through which the articles supported within the Adisplay section of the cabinet, may be viewed. Y

The reference character 9 indicates the upper section of the front wall of the cabinet, the upper section extending downwardly an appreciable distance from the top of the cabinet, where it is supplied with openings to accommodate trans- 4 Claims. (Cl. 62--89.5)

parent slides having certain indicating characters thereon indicating the type ofy merchandise contained in the display section of the device.

The reference character I0 indicates a perforated support or shelf which is supported by means of the legs II and cross-bar I2 connect-y ing the legs III at their upper ends.

The reference character II3 indicates an inwardly and downwardly inclined wall that extends -to a point below a line drawn horizontally through the cabinet, touching the upper edge of the transparent extension section 8, providing a compartment I4 with an inclined upper wall.

Hingedly `connected to the lower edge of the wall I3, is a perforated wall I5 which establishes communication between the compartment I4 and storage compartment I6 directly behind the compartmentr I4. The perforated wall I5 may be swung inwardly so that .the shelf I0 may be manually charged with merchandise by a person within the cabinet.

The mirror indicated at- Il is positioned on the front surface of the wall I3, and reflects the fruit or vegetables which are positioned on the perforated support or shelf I0.

Due to the location of the incline-d wall I3, a triangular niche or space 24 is formed within the upper front portion of the cabinet 5. This space lies below the cabinet roof above and adjacent the inside surface of the wall I3.

Rigidly disposed within the triangular space 24, and located adjacent the transverse center thereof, there i5 provided a cooling element I8 which includes a conventional refrigerant expansion coil, not shown. As a means for mechanically causing a circulation of the air contained in the cabinet, and for continuously and repeatedly passing such air through the cooling element I8, there is provided a suitable electrically driven fan I9. The fan I9 is adapted to create air circulation within the cabinet i the directions indicated by theA arrows in Figure 2.

It is pointed out that due to the fact that the fan I9 creates a suction in the upper front corner of the space 24, and exhausts the air as it is 'drawn from this corner through the cooling element and toward the rear of the cabinet along its roof, the circulation is cyclonic in nature. By

The air at this point has traveled the greatest distance from the cooling element I8, and is therefore at a higher temperature than it is at any other point in the cabinet. 'Iv'he compara along its front edge by a beam 3l.

which extends upwardly beyond the level of the upper wall of the opening 29. The opening 29 has a hinged perforated door 33 similar to the door 21 in the opening 25.

In this embodiment of the invention a portion of the cold air which during its circulation and return to the fan I9', travels along the inside the cabinet alon'g the upper overlapping portions of the walls (l--9) and the wail Il.

Since this stratum of air is much colder than the outside warm air thereabove, the cold stratum prsents a barrier which prevents the downward movement of such outside warm air and therefore prevents its entry into the cabinet through the perforated wall I5.

Directly above the mirror I1, are slides 29 on which may be displayed 'the merchandise price and descriptive menu.

The apparatus, shown in the drawings and described hereinabove, constitutes a forced air circulation system. It is pointed out, however, that by deleting the fan I9- from the apparatus,

surface of the wall section I3', passes through surface of the shelf l2l. This circulating cold air ills the space above the shelf to a vertical point, approximately even with the upper wall of the opening 25. Air at outside atmospheric temperature occupies the space lying above said shelf 21 and below the upper shelf 30. and this warmer outside air is prevented from entering the cabinet or open refrigerated space lying above shelf 2l', the cold \stratum air acting as a barrier to outside infiltra- The air traveling upwardly along the inside surface of the wall section I3' creates a syphoning suction beneath the upper wall of openings 25 and 29, and this suction creates a. circulation of the cold air above the shelves substanthe device would be converted in the gravity system which is capable of functioning to cool merchandise placed upon the shelf I0. Such an embodiment would not be as eillcient as the forced circulation system, but the air would circulate by gravity in substantially the path indicated by the arrows in Figure 2. although such v circulation would take place at considerably less speed.

Suitable hooks such as indicated at 2| may be providedwithin the cabinet. on which articles may be hung while stored.

It will also be noted that electric lamps 22, are

provided in proximity to the transparent slides in the section 9 of the front wall illuminating the slides.

The principal object of the modified form of the invention as shown -by Figure 4 is to increase the display shelf capacity of the device without materially increasing the cost of the apparatus, and without a. substantial decrease in the eillciency of the air cooling .element I9 and its associated air circulating unit I9.

With this object in mind, the lower portion of the inclined wall section i3 is provided with spaced openings 25 and 29 which extend horizontally for substantially the entire length of the section i3'. Each of the openings has its inner end closed by a door 21 hingedly connected along its upper edge to the upper wall of the respective'openings. I

A horizontal forwardly projecting shelf 21' of imperforate sheet material is rigidly positioned on the lower wall of the opening 25, with its front edge supported by a horizontal beam 29 attached to the end walls of the cabinet 5. :The beam` 29 also supports the lower edge an upwardly extending glass panel or sheet 29 which extends above the level of the upper wall of the opening 25. The shelf 21' and panel 29 preferably extend the entire length of the cabinet.

The lower wall of the upper opening 29 has a similarly mounted horizontal forwardly projecting .imperforate shelf 39 which is supported 3| supports an upwardly projecting glass panel 32 'similar 'to the above described panel 29,` and The beam 'shelves 21' and 30 are tially as indicated by the arrows in Figure 4. The result is that any merchandise placed upon the shelves will be refrigerated. v The bottoms of the provided with a heat insulating layer 34.

The same circulation of cold air is provided in a similar manner above the shelf 30 as indicated by the arrows directly thereabove;

Another object of the present embodiment is to provide means whereby the cabinet may be convertedinto a freezing unit instead,of being merely a cooling apparatus.

With this end in view, a vertical depending curtain, wall or partition 35 is lprovided at a point substantially even with the rear open face of the cooling element I9. The wall 35 extends entirely from end to end ofthe cabinet, and its upper edge terminates a slight distance below the cabinet roof. The lower'edge of the wall 35 terminates approximately even with the upper edge of the opening 26, but does not meet the inclined front wall i3. The wall 35 is cut out to t snugly around the cooling element I9'.

With the wall ,35 in place as shown, it is possible to freeze merchandise within the cabinet 5 as well as upon all of the shelves I0, 21' and 30, by merely increasing the flow of refrigerant to the cooling unit and also speeding up the Afan. A portion of the circulatingfairreturns to the triangular compartment 24 over the top of the wall 95, as indicated by some of the arrows in Figure 4.

It :might be further stated that in the form of the invention as shown by Figure 4 of the drawings,'a transparent wall 9 is provided along the front edge of the perforated shelf 30' and extends upwardly an appreciable distance.

At the rear of the compartment is a perforated hinged closure 9' which may be swung upwardly to permit articles of food to be positioned on the shelf 30' from a point within the cabinet.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have provided a cabinet including a walk-inl storage space at the rear thereof, and a front section for containing the articles to be sold, the articles be-l ing on display to be picked up by persons in carrying out the self-service sales system.y

extending from the front edge of the top of 'the' cabinet, dividing the cabinet into a storage comperforated shelf supported within the displayv compartment and on which articles are supported, the space below the shelf being open to induce circulation, a perforated wall connected with the inwardly and downwardly inclined wall and engaging the shelf at the rear edge thereof, a refrigerating unit mounted within the storage compartment within the space between the upper end of the inclined wall and top of the cabinet, and said refrigerating unit adapted to create a circulation of cool air through the shelf, perforated wall and storage compartment.

2. A refrigerating apparatus, including a cabinet having in combination, a vertically disposed lower front wall section extending upwardly from the cabinet iloor and terminating below the cabinet roof, an upper depending front wall section having its upper edge connected to the cabinet root above said lower section, said vupper section being inclined downwardly and inwardly to a point lying below and spaced inwardly from the upper edge of said lower section, plurally perforated horizontal shelves extending inwardly i'rom u the inner surface oi said lower section to a point lying below and spaced yvertically from the lower edge of said upper section, and means in said cabinet for cooling and circulating the air therein.

3. Structure as specied in claim 2, in which said air-cooling and circulating means includes a refrigerating element, and a fan for driving air through' said element.

4. Structure as specified in claim 2, in which said means includes a refrigerating element disposed in the upper portion of said cabinet, and a fany for withdrawing air from the space within said cabinetlying above said upper wall section, and for exhausting said air through said element 'toward the rear of the cabinet.

f ELDEN 0. HENDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 

